In Wamberal, the 10/50 bushfire rule stops 100 metres from the coastline
By Artigellence ·
The Rural Fire Service's 10/50 Code lets an owner in an entitlement area clear trees within 10 metres of a home without approval. In Wamberal three of its exclusions sit close to home: a lot wholly or partly within 100 metres of the coastline is excluded, nothing may be cleared within 10 metres of a lagoon, and nature reserve land is outside the code. Where it does not apply, Council's permit usually does.
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What the rule allows, and what it calls a tree
Inside a designated entitlement area, the 10/50 Code lets an owner clear trees within 10 metres of a home, and shrubs and other vegetation that is not a tree within 50 metres, without seeking approval. The code says a tree may only be removed where its trunk, measured at 1.3 metres above the ground, is within the 10 metres. The distance runs from the external walls, and includes an attached deck, verandah, pergola or garage, but not a detached garage, a shed or a water tank.
Its idea of a tree is not Council's. Under the code, a tree is a woody plant 3 or more metres tall with a trunk whose circumference at 1.3 metres is more than 30 centimetres. Council's development control plan counts anything 3 metres tall, or with a trunk 75 millimetres in diameter at 1.4 metres. The two tests measure different things at different heights, so check the tree against the rule you are relying on, not the other one.
Wamberal's beachfront and the coastline line
Section 7.2 of the code excludes vegetation on any lot that lies wholly or partially within the areas mapped in the RFS online tool, and one of those areas is land within 100 metres of the coastline or the estuaries of NSW. Excluded vegetation may not be cleared under the code. A lot only partly inside the line is caught whole.
The RFS web page lists the same 100 metres among the matters the tool will report, which could be read as a condition to follow rather than a bar. The code is plainer, and it also says that where another authority's map differs from the tool's, the tool's version applies. Council's coastal frontage map shades the beachfront lots along Wamberal Beach, so on those streets the online tool, not a tape measure from the sand, is the thing to check.
The lagoon and the nature reserves
The code does not allow clearing within 10 metres of a lake, and it defines a lake to include a lagoon and a wetland. The RFS says riparian buffers are not mapped in the online tool, so a clear result from the tool does not cover this one. You check the ground yourself, measuring from the highest bank.
Two nature reserves, Wamberal Lagoon and Wambina, reach into the suburb. Land reserved under the National Parks and Wildlife Act is outside the 10/50 Code, and a tree on the reserve side of a back fence is a matter for the National Parks and Wildlife Service, not the neighbouring owner.
What happens to the stump, and on a slope
Clearing under the code comes with conditions. There is to be no disturbance of the soil, vegetation must not be removed below the soil surface, and the topsoil stays where it is. Tree removal is not permitted on slopes greater than 18 degrees unless a geotechnical engineer's report sets the conditions for it.
The code does not mention stump grinding, so ask a provider how they would handle the stump before the tree comes down.
When the rule does not reach your tree
The RFS says to run the online tool on the day you clear, because the entitlement area and the exclusions can change, to check each lot separately where a property is more than one, and to keep a copy of the result. Outside the entitlement area, it sends owners to Council or Local Land Services.
On a Wamberal house block that usually means Council's Private Tree Works Application. The 2026/27 fee is $245 for up to two trees, excluding GST, and Council is to decide within 28 days.
Artigellence is the marketing business that operates this site and writes its articles. It does not carry out the work described.
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Last reviewed · Updated · First published